Advancing Energy Efficiency in Texas

Over the past two years, Public Citizen has secured new and expanded energy efficiency programs throughout Texas to reduce greenhouse gases that cause climate change and other pollutants. Our achievements include a legislative requirement that utilities double the amount of load growth that must be met with efficiency measures, up to 20% by 2009.

Based on a study mandated in the 2007 legislation session and completed in late 2008, Texas could easily increase its commitment to assure that at least 50% of the growth in demand comes from efficiency. Unfortunately, the 2009 legislature failed to increase the goal during the regular session. Recently, however, the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) began discussing whether they could adopt rules to go beyond the current state mandated minimum.

In the coming year, we have three big opportunities to secure new utility-focused efficiency measures through the PUC. First, the PUC will undergo a Sunset Review process, which will include a statutory and management review. Second, PUC and ERCOT will conduct rulemaking, where the details of efficiency rules will be decided, including issues such as how to value various programs and how to deploy new programs such as Advanced Meter Implementation (AMI). Third, all across Texas, cities now have the ability to create clean energy districts.

Clean energy districts are an innovative financing tool that cities can use to offer low-interest loans to homes and businesses to cover the upfront cost of major energy efficiency upgrades. Learn more here.

Public Citizen is engaged at the city level too. Right now we are trying to pass an energy plan in Austin that would raise the energy efficiency goal for the city to 1000 megawatts by 2020. We've formed a coalition called Clean Energy for Austin, joining non-profits, businesses and individuals who want a green energy plan for the city.

Most of us, when watching “the big game” do not really stop to think about the enormous amount of energy it takes to power such an event. This year, the Super Bowl, as well as the parties and events surrounding it, are going to use about 18 megawatts of energy, enough to power about 12,000 […]

A new report by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) has Texas ranked 33nd in the nation for programs to promote energy efficiency. This unimpressive ranking shows Texas has a wasteful reliance on fossil fuels which contribute to air pollution and global warming and cost Texas families and businesses more and more […]

SAN ANTONIO – The newly formed Re-Energize San Antonio Coalition called on CPS Energy to meet a set of conditions before following through with an October rate hike. Describing the hike as an increase that will “unfairly burden residential taxpayers,” coalition members called on CPS to take steps to reduce pollution, waste and costs for […]

The newly formed Re-Energize San Antonio Coalition put its opposition to CPS’s proposed rate hike on the record during a Sept. 9 citizen’s input meeting. Coalition representatives presented the utility with a plan of action that they want addressed before an increase goes into effect. Here’s the petition. PETITION FOR CPS ACTIONS PRIOR TO PROPOSED […]

With the regular session behind us and energy and environmental issues not likely to find a place in the special session, it’s a good time to look at what we accomplished. Our wins came in two forms – bills that passed that will actually improve policy in Texas and bills that didn’t pass that would […]

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